When we think of learning environments, we think of books, lectures, databases perhaps. But in my recent research, I discovered that the interactions we have with people in our networks play an even more important role in what we learn and how we turn information into actionable knowledge.

How are workers currently using social tools? Mostly for internal collaboration, according to an Ipsos study commissioned by Microsoft to survey 9,908 global information workers about how they use social tools to get work done, available at The Worldwide Watercooler.

Find out how memory twists, pops, distorts, persists and decays, along with the odd tip on how to improve it. You think you have a memory; but it has you!" John Irving. Irving''s quote nicely captures our hunch that we are slaves to our memories. Will I recall someone''s name? What moment from my past will come back to delight, perplex or daunt me? And at other times we ask ourselves why we seem unable to forget. MORE >>

I am at the Digital Malaysia National Crowdsourcing Conference in Kuala Lumpur, where I gave the keynote this morning on the global crowdsourcing landscape and the opportunities for Malaysia. . It is fantastic to see what Malaysia is doing. Digital Malaysia is the government agency tasked with developing Malaysia as a digital nation towards 2020. One of its 8 current major initiatives is in using crowdsourcing to give work and opportunities to the least advantaged 40% of the population. MORE >>

The post Excellent Content Marketing: Dear NSA… appeared first on John Battelle's Search Blog. This short Slideshare deck , an extremely clever satire of the now infamous NSA slide deck , should be Slideshare’s marketing calling card. Echoes of the Tide and Oreo executions that are getting such plaudits recently. Love it. Dear NSA, let me take care of your slides. from Emiland. MORE >>

"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." --Lt. David Morrison, Australian Army Chief. As I continue to hear stories about how dysfunctional many workplaces are, how workers are poorly treated by both managers and colleagues, the video above really struck a chord for me. In it, Lt. General David Morrison is talking about how sexual abuse and aggression toward women is unacceptable in the Australian Army. MORE >>

Why sometimes having low self-control helps you perform good habits. It''s not often that anyone talks about the benefits of low self-control. That''s because usually low self-control has bad consequences: over-eating, over-spending under-exercising and the rest. That said, there are some circumstances in which being in a weakened state can be good news for our diets, our health or even our credit cards. These arise out of the way that habits work. MORE >>